Tag Archives: Trump

Freedom of Suppress

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Peter Kruschwitz

Having watched a few episodes of the daily POTUS press briefing screechorama recently, I was reminded of a particular gem among the fables of Phaedrus. The piece is called Simius Tyrannus, King Ape. Its text, somewhat unusually surviving in prose … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hydroxychloroquine

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Peter Kruschwitz

On March 21st, 2020, the President of the United States revealed that his tremendous capacities also stretched to the field of medicine: More recently, medical studies would appear to suggest that hydroxychloroquine is only marginally more effective than anthonyquine when … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Hard shell, soft core

Posted on February 5, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

The late antique poet Claudian wrote a series of seven short epigrams on a fluid inclusion (or ‘enhydro’); these poems form part of a collection of Carmina minora (‘Shorter poems’), where they feature under the title De crystallo cui aqua … Continue reading →

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Principiis obsta: resist beginnings!

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

Ovid, in his elegiac poem Remedia Amoris (‘Remedies for Love’), writes (Ov. rem. 89–94, transl. J. H. Mozley): Quale sit id, quod amas, celeri circumspice mente, et tua laesuro subtrahe colla iugo. Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur, cum mala per … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Facts vs. alternative facts (formerly known as ‘bull$#!^’): an ancient poem

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

Phaedrus, Rome’s fabulist of the first century A. D., wrote a remarkable piece called Poeta de credere et non credere, ‘The poet’s judgement with respect to believing and not believing’ (Phaedr. 3.10). This is the rather delightful 1761 translation of … Continue reading →

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Fake News and Post-Truth Politics

Posted on December 11, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

There is a widespread, distinct feeling that Western politics has entered a phase of what tends to be called ‘post-truth politics‘. The term ‘post-truth politics’, often accompanied by references to fake news and disinformation campaigns, looks like a euphemism for … Continue reading →

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No safe (and therefore a special) place

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

American Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence went to the theatre to enjoy a performance of ‘Hamilton’, when this happened: President-Elect Donald Trump apparently was not particularly happy with this and felt compelled to put his own trademark (a.k.a. low-fact, boastful) spin on … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

False Etymologies

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

With a little (and really only just a little) too much time on my hands, I recently thought: why not enter terms that are on my mind a lot as search strings into the Packhum Latin database and see what … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Prose | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments